Aeroplan Transfer Bonuses Are Back

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Update, 05/13: This promotion ends today.

Originally posted on 04/15:

Related links:
Air Canada Award Flight Chart

Starwood Mileage Transfers
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN
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Aeroplan Transfer Bonus Offer Details

Through May 13th you can get bonus points for transferring points to Air Canada’s Aeroplan program.

Unfortunately the bonus does not apply for American Express Membership Rewards transfers, but it does work for Starwood transfers.  Starwood gives 25K Aeroplan miles for every 20K Starpoints transferred.
-If you transfer 5K Starwood you’ll have 6K Aeroplan (effective 20% bonus)
-If you transfer 10K Starwood you’ll have 12K Aeroplan (effective 20% bonus)
-If you transfer 20K Starwood you’ll have 29K Aeroplan (effective 45% bonus)
-If you transfer 40K Starwood you’ll have 60K Aeroplan (effective 50% bonus)
-If you transfer 80K Starwood you’ll have 125K Aeroplan (effective 56.25% bonus)
-If you transfer 120K Starwood you’ll have 190K Aeroplan (effective 58.33% bonus)

120K Starwood points will get you more than enough Aeroplan miles for 2 people to fly round-trip business class to Europe on highly rated Star Alliance carrier Swiss with no fuel surcharges.  Plus you’re free to fly to and stay in 3 cities for as long as you want for the same mileage rate!

Of course there are many other options for your Starpoints, so you’ll have to consider if a 25% bonus to American (or dozens of other airlines) may serve you better than a 58% bonus to Aeroplan as you can transfer Membership Rewards to Aeroplan but not to American. Or whether you may do better just redeeming for free hotel stays.

Then again if you’re feeling creative you can transfer 120K Starwood into 190K Aeroplan and then use Points.com to transfer 190K Aeroplan into 159,622 USAirways miles.  That’s 9,622 more miles than you would get if you transferred directly from Starwood into USAirways.  There are no fuel surcharges on any partner airlines with USAirways.  Soon you will also be able to transfer USAirways miles into American miles as well.

A breakdown of Aeroplan policies:

The good:
-Air Canada has one of the best lap child policies out there. You pay a flat fee of just $50 in coach, $100 in business, and $125 in first for a lap child. Compare that to 10% of the paid fare with other airlines and you can save a small fortune, especially if you are flying in business or first class.
-Air Canada generously allows for 2 free stopovers, so you can check out up to 2 cities for as long as you want in addition to your final destination.  If used properly you can create for yourself a mini round-the-world trip, all for the single award rate of flying to your final destination. So for just 90K miles you can fly in business class to 3 European cities and stay in each for as long as you want. Or for 135K miles you can fly down under in business, with stops in Europe and in Asia along the way for example.
-There are no expedite/close-in fees.

The bad:
-There is a $90 charge to change or cancel an award ticket and a $180 charge to cancel within 21 days of departure. (The $90 cancellation price when done at least 21+ days in advance actually is pretty good)
-One-way awards cost about 2/3rds of the award cost of a round-trip.
-Awards can’t be held.
-For travel to Israel the coach rate is the same 80K as United and USAirways charge, but you need 135K in business (compared to 120K with United or USAirways) and 190K for first class via Europe (compared to 150K with United or 180K with USAirways). Some people have been able to fly to Israel for less by using Tel Aviv as a stopover point on the way to Asia.

The ugly:
-Air Canada charges a fuel surcharge if you redeem their miles for travel on the following carriers: Adria, Air Canada, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, TAP Portugal, and THAI. (There is no fuel surcharge if you redeem their miles for travel on the following carriers: Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca/TACA, Brussels, Copa, Croatia, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, SAS, Singapore, South African, Swiss, TAM, Turkish, United, and USAirways)
-Air Canada miles require activity every 12 months to keep them active. They also expire 7 years after they are earned regardless of activity.

HT: Shimmy P.

Leave a Reply

39 Comments On "Aeroplan Transfer Bonuses Are Back"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Yitz

How often can you find 120K on united for business. Lately they just offer 150K

Dan

@Yitz:
It’s a matter of checking often and utilizing Plan B if you have United miles.
I booked a friend to Israel for Sukkos for 120K in business class nonstop on United both ways.

Otherwise just be willing to fly with a stop, it’s not the end of the world.

sky121

It has been harder lately than it used to be but def not impossible. And if you check daily something usually opens up.

aron

there is an option to trnsfr from ONE PASS to AEROPLAN?

Davidd

even without the bonus would you transfer amex points to ANA or Aeroplan if the goal is to secure United flights from new york to tel aviv and ny to san diego

Anonymous

Hi Dan
Is there any good way of transferring aeroplan miles to united or avios???

Mileswhore

The ugliest: They aren’t open 24/7 for award travel assistance. Good luck getting help after hours on an award ticket when you encounter missed flights, etc. I know, I’ve been through it.

CA dreaming

what’s the best way to use BA miles?
I have 103k courtesy of dansdeals amex bonus, and don’t fly to europe. besides, they seem to love fuel charges.

ryan

Anyone know if you can transfer SW into an someone else’s AP account. SW officially says no, but anyone with experience?

MAJ

what about fuel for turkish?

ygift

im looking to go to israel dec 18 (or 19 if i can get a direct flight)returning dec 29 or 30 or jan 1. I want a business ticket but im having a hard time finding availability
I have 104,000 amex points plus 108,000 in another amex acct.
i also have 101000 american and 187000 ultimate rewards and another acct (different first name) with 129,000
i also have 46,460 united (with the name that has the 187000 UR) and 50000 united with the naame that has the 129000 UR
can anyone help out ?

SoCal Dude

Late last year I (unwisely?) transferred 150,000 AmEx MR Points to AeroPlan since I was incorrectly told there’s no fuel surcharge booking on ANA with Aeroplan. After reading this I understand you can transfer from Aeroplan to US Airways. Does anyone know if there’s a fee for this? Seems like a great idea for me to get my 150K back…

Dan

@dan i read in your comments somewhere that you can use “plan b” for booking with united saver awards for your friend and upgrade to business class, can’t seem to find that post with the link. can you comment with a link to that post?

Dan

@aron:
If you still have Onepass miles then…

@Davidd:
It’s more complicated that a simple answer.

@Anonymous:
USAirways only, as explained in the post.

@CA dreaming:
Tons of great uses, but off topic stuff is best discussed on DDF.

@ryan:
The correct abbreviation for Starwood is SPG.
SW can refer to Southwest.

You can probably find your answer in this DDF thread:
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=2022

@MAJ:
None.

@SoCal Dude:
There’s no fee, but you do take a 16% mileage haircut.

@Dan:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/23569

Chaim

Where do I book the 80K United and USAirways flights to Israel? Is this only through Star Alliance or by having USAirways miles?

Dan

@Chaim:
If you have 80K USAir miles you need to call USAir to book travel on partner carriers.
You can do research on sites like Aeroplan and United.

BB

Best to search Aeroplan before converting your SPG points. I left AP last year because availability is horrible at the lowest redemption levels. It is also worth noting that when trying to book overseas in biz class, the AC metal segments tend to be in economy with the connecting European leg in biz. Also, taxes on the AC flight to Israel is almost $800 — ridiculous.

Dan

@BB:
Hence why you want to redeem on partners where availability is better and there are no fuel surcharges.
Or just convert the miles to USAirways.

Lazer

I looked up on spg and there seems to be a 5000 bonus for every 20000 transfer so if I may ask what do I get more if I transfer for aeroplan mileage?

Shmuli

Is the any cost in changing Aeroplan miles to US Airways (taxes, fees etc…)?
(beside for the 1 – .85 exchange ratio)

Dan

@Lazer:
You’re gonna have to rephrase that for me.

@Shmuli:
No. The current ratio is 1:0.84

aron

@Dan: sorry i mean MileagePlus. again:there is an option to trnsfr from MileagePlus to AEROPLAN?

Dan

@aron:
Nope.
Why do you want to?

aron

@Dan: i have 25000 of them and there is no use for so less amount, and from the other side i have 100000 AEROPLAN i wish to conbine them Together…

travelbug

hey mr travel guru any ideas how to get around the spg limit of 94.9k points transfer per day thanks mr guru you da man!

Question

Can you explain the benefit of points.com and how to use them?

Davidd

@Dan: Dan what other details can i provide you. I am not sure which is better for booking United flights, ANA or Aeroplan. I generally need to book flights from ny/newark to tel aviv and ny/newark to san diego.

I have AMEX points that I need to transfer!

Dan

@Davidd:
For NYC-TLV the best for now is ANA.
For NYC-SAN the best for now is either Singapore or Aeroplan or USAirways via Aeroplan.

flyer

@ Dan
Ana is the best for booking NYC (Newark) to Tlv?
can u explain? is that better then booking directly with united?

Dan
Lazer

@Dan: if I transfer to any airline they told me that for every 20000 miles I will get a 5000 bonus so my question is what do i get more with the aeroplan bonus

Lazer

@Dan: it seems to be the same

J

@lazer… Read the point transfer bonuses for aero plan…. Starwood will typically only provide a 25% bonus total regardless of how much you transfer.. The aero plan bonus may net you 50% bonus (or more) depending on number of points you transfer

Arie

ANA points can only be used on United when “saver” is available.
From what I can tell there is no saver availability EWR-TLV.
Comments?

eli

can the aeroplan account have a different name than the spg account. I know if you try transferring to someone elses AA account from spg it will get the aa account shut. Will the same thing happen with aeroplan?

Hitesh

Dan,

Any ideas on when US Air miles can be used as American miles? Q3 2013? Or do you think later?
Thanks!

Magid

chase ink does not transfer to ANA. Am I missing anything?

Magid

How easy is it to get a united flight to TLV using ANA?
Anyone tried for prime time like Chagim? How did it work? How long in advance?

zee

Any ideas for ord to tlv mid june with a stop in wsw? I have points with MR SPG UA AA.

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